West Springfield's Majestic Theater opens Ken Ludwig's farce “Lend Me a Tenor” today, kicking off a run that continues through November 29. Set in a 1930s Cleveland hotel suite, the play follows the chaos that erupts when a world-famous tenor's scheduled appearance at the Grand Cleveland Opera spirals into a tangle of mistaken identities and backstage mishaps.
The production marks the second show of the Majestic Theater's 29th season, with Myka Plunkett directing a cast that includes Sam Samuels as Saunders, Sarah Keyes as Maria, Peter Evangelista as Tito, Christopher Marcus as Max, Mona Tiglio as Julia, John Pagliarulo as the Bellhop, Raya Malcolm as Maggie and Dorine Tayts as Diana, according to MassLive. Plunkett said she enthusiastically accepted the opportunity to direct the play, according to the same report, and credited her clown training as part of what drew her to the project. She also said she values the comedy of the piece along with the challenge of bringing its characters and 1930s setting to life.
Samuels, who plays the scheming theater manager Saunders, told the outlet he's finally old enough to take on the role, and that he's long enjoyed comedy and farce, having grown up watching the Marx Brothers. He described Saunders as the character who motivates much of the play's frantic action, constantly trying to make everything work out despite the mounting confusion around him. Philip Bosco won a Tony Award for originating the role of Saunders on Broadway, the report notes.
A Case of Mistaken Identity and a Mix-Up Onstage
The farce's engine is a classic bit of theatrical panic: Tito Merelli, the tenor at the center of the story, accidentally overdoses on tranquilizers and appears dead, setting off a frenzy of impersonation and cover-ups among the hotel staff and performers around him, per MassLive's account of the plot. Playwright Ken Ludwig, described in the report as a Tony and Olivier Award-winning playwright, author, screenwriter and director, built the show around that single premise and let the complications multiply from there.
“Lend Me a Tenor” has a well-traveled history on the stage. The show premiered in London's West End in 1986 before heading to Broadway, according to the Majestic Theater. Its original Broadway run opened at the Royale Theatre on March 2, 1989, and continued through April 22, 1990, according to the Internet Broadway Database, produced by The Shubert Organization, Martin Starger and The Really Useful Theatre Company Ltd., per the same source.
Conflicting Tallies on the Play's Tony Haul
Accounts differ on exactly how many Tony nominations the show collected during that original Broadway run. The Majestic Theater's own materials state that “Lend Me a Tenor” earned nine Tony Award nominations and won in the Best Actor and Best Director categories. Playbill, however, reports that the play received seven Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Play. The two sources don't agree on the exact count, but both confirm the show was a Tony contender in its Broadway debut.
The play later returned to Broadway in a 2010 revival directed by Stanley Tucci, with Tony winner Anthony LaPaglia starring as the opera singer Tito Merelli, according to Playbill. That revival relocated the action to a Cleveland hotel suite in 1934, according to the Internet Broadway Database's production records.
Tickets and What's Next at the Majestic
Tickets for the Majestic Theater's current season run $36 to $39 and can be purchased online, at the box office, or by phone at 413-747-7797, MassLive reports. The box office is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Once “Lend Me a Tenor” wraps up its run on November 29, the theater's next production, “Home for the Holidays,” is set to begin December 3 and run for one month, according to the outlet.
